Doll-A-Day 2023 #274: Tonner Effanbee Alice

   I got this doll a few weeks ago at the first doll show of that weekend. (I went to two that weekend.) 

The dealer said she is a Tonner Alice in Wonderland doll, but I couldn't find her when I looked up Tonner Alice dolls. To further confuse me, her dress has an Effanbee tag.

  I did finally sort of find her on line. The doll that came in this dress was an Effanbee doll and a Tonner doll as far as I can tell. Tonner designed an Effanbee doll?  Her name was Ruth Ann. But she had straight hair and bangs, and a black ribbon Alice band in her hair. That doll originally came with a white rabbit. I have no idea why this doll is in this dress. It obviously fits her perfectly. I have no idea what's going on with these dolls. 

I don't know if she's the doll that belongs in this dress or not. If she is, there was more than one doll that came in this dress, because I've seen the original insert for the doll, and this isn't the doll it pictures. In any case, she's pretty, and I love her outfit. She's made of a really nice quality vinyl. The dress is very detiled and made of good quality fabrics.

Her dress is a thick cotton. 

It's trimmed in lace.

Her sleeves have little buttons at the cuffs, but they don't button. That's just for looks. They close with snaps. Notice the sleeves are lace trimmed too.

Under the dress she has a slip.

And over it she has a white eyelet pinafore.

It has three little buttons.

Her pinny ties in the back.

She has white tights and black Mary Jane shoes that really buckle and unbuckle.

She has a serious face.

  She has dimples and blue eyes with brush lashes.

If you gave her brown eyes and the right wig, she wouldn't make a bad Shirley Temple.

 There's some detail in those eyebrows.

She has great squiggley hair. And look at the details on her sleeves!

  

Ken and I took a day off today to relax a bit. The idea was to have a picnic/cookout at some point. But Ken didn't have his meat yet, for cooking, and he was starving. So we ate in Roscoe Village, which we went to just for fun, and he cooked out later. By the time we got to the park to cook out, it was getting late. I still needed to photograph this doll too. I was afraid it was getting too dark, but I think her pictures came out pretty nice.

She's 21 inches tall. 

What are these flowers called?! I can't think of the name!

Look at the side of her hair. That better not get messed up, because it's beyond me to fix that.

The tall flowers are zinnias, right?

  That's today's doll. See you again tomorrow.  

Doll-A-Day 2023 #123: Tyler Wentworth

   Yay! Emma is home from the hospital! She's still in some pain, and tired. The pain medication and muscle relaxants they gave her make her sleepy, but she's so much better. It's terrible to see your kid suffer, even if they are an adult now. So I'm relieved to have her home and doing so well.

  My sister just retired. Yesterday was her last day of work, and we went to see her to make sure she celebrated. We hung a banner on her porch and parked across from her apartment to watch her come home and see it. She wasn't much surprised. The people at work had given her two cakes and bunches of flowers, both live and cut, and a bunch of balloons. We only brought her cheesecake...but it was good!

  While we were there I quickly photographed some of her dolls. She 'doesn't collect dolls'. Yeah. I remember saying that. Anyway, here is one doll she bought at a doll show we went to a while back. She's Tyler Wentworth.

  Tyler Wentworth is a Robert Tonner doll. She was produced from 1999 to 2018, when Tonner went out of business. At 16 inches, she's a bit taller than Ashton Drake's Gene, or at least, she looks like it. I prefer Gene.

  This particular Tyler is jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.

  She was only wearing this teddy when my sister bought her, and she'd like to get her some clothes.

 She's cheap though. She sews, and I suggested she make some.

  Unlike me, my sister has brown hair, (grey now.), and I don't think she particularly likes red hair. She's glad she wasn't the one who got stuck with it. But this doll has red hair, and she doesn't seem to mind.

  She has a nice face, but I told my sister that Tyler needs a barrette, because that hair would drive me crazy. My sister said don't gook her hair up.

I am actually holding it out of her face to take this picture.

  My sister was concerned that I was photographing the doll on the kitchen table, and that she'd just 'look like she's sitting on the kitchen table'. But I assured her it would be okay.

  That's today's doll. See you tomorrow for another one.

Some Busy Work,Some Freezing Cold Gardening, and a Patience Photo Story

  It has been SO COLD the last couple of days. Yesterday it was about 42 Fahrenheit! (Today was not much better,at 43.) I got a lot accomplished yesterday though. Some of the plastic drawer units I keep my fabric in were getting squashed from the weight of being stacked. Ken helped me lift them and I did some rearranging so they could sit without being stacked on top of each other. Then I was able to resort my fabric drawers. That took AGES. I had them separated by pattern,(stars,polka dots,stripes,animals, flowers,fruits, period specific patterns,etc.) They had gotten a bit mixed up because I couldn't get some of the drawers open because they were squashed, so I was just sticking fabric in whichever drawers I could get open.
  In spite of the cold,I also harvested some of my leeks yesterday. I planted them years ago. They come back every year, but never get big enough to eat,and then start blooming. You may have seen the blooming leeks, (No pun intended,although they are really annoying...) on the blog. For instance,in some of the pictures of the mini Pippi I made for a Flickr friend.

You can see her whole post HERE.

  This year they are getting almost big enough to eat! I harvested a couple of young leeks that were a pretty decent size,and, accidentally, a tiny one. Ken and I both had a serving's worth last night though. Leeks are a veg that grows better in the cooler weather,so I think our really cool Spring has been just what they've been wanting.
  I also cut a few of the Hostas. Some of them were about 6 inches tall,and some weren't even that tall, but were starting to unfurl any way. It was enough for a nice little batch of them.
  On Easter I took some other pictures besides the ones of Tammy World. Doing Doll-A-Day has meant I rarely get to show you a doll more than once. Because I'm not doing it this year gives me a chance to 'play' with some dolls I haven't gotten to for a while. One of the dolls I have been looking forward to getting to do some pictures with again  is Patience. You can see her original post HERE. She posed for some pictures with a little ceramic bunny I have. I had no story in mind when I took the pictures,but as I was posting the photos on Flickr, a story just wrote itself. So here is my little story. Patience's dress is from an old 12 inch Effanbee doll, if I'm recalling correctly.
                                               Patience's Easter Adventure
 Patience went for a walk in the woods to pick some flowers...

It was very quiet in the woods.

A quiet rustle in the undergrowth caught her attention.

She couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Ah."thought Patience,"I think it's coming from over there.Hello!" she called softly.

She saw a furry little creature hiding under the leaves. She decided to sit down and pretend not to notice, in hopes that the shy animal would come forward.

Eventually, she saw him,out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello." said Patience,"Who are you?" The little rabbit's nose twitched. "You may call me Pinky." he said,"How do you do?" "I'm very well thank you." said Patience,"You may call me Patience."

Pinky and Patience picked flowers all afternoon. Pinky ate them all, but Patience didn't mind.She was glad to have made a new friend.

As the sun began to fade Patience bid Pinky goodbye,promising to come visit him again soon. "And I will come to visit you in your garden." said Pinky.

"Hmm...yes,well,maybe I should visit you." said Patience, remembering the flowers. "Very well." said Pinky,"I'll see you soon!"

And I'll see you again soon.

The Tonner Company is Gone, But Tonner Dolls Linger On

  It has been announced that the Tonner Doll Company is no more. The website closed down at the end of December. Yesterday the company sent a message out:
" I was lucky enough to start Tonner Doll at a point when it seemed that everyone was collecting, making, buying or selling dolls.   At the same time, the Far East was willing and eager to produce whatever we wanted at a price that couldn’t be beat.    High demand and inexpensive, quality production led to the golden age of collectible dolls and great success for Tonner Doll...the business model that I used to build Tonner Doll is no longer viable or sustainable."
  I was curious when, late last year, I received an email from a company named Phyn and Aero,advertising the new Patience doll. The doll wasn't available on the Wilde Imagination site. (Tonner's other doll site.) That was explained in the email too.
  "Through Phyn and Aero, I’ll be working directly with our favorite retailers to create unique and exclusive dolls (look for the first Ellowyne out this Spring).   I will continue to design for and attend events throughout the year (Dollology, Shaker Doll Club, Doll Circle and UFDC to name a few).  At Phyn and Aero I will also continue to develop new product; we’ll be doing small batch, design driven products.  Rayne, a new character with unique (and I mean unique) accessories will debut around Toy Fair."
  Robert Tonner also said he'll be working on projects for other companies too. So for those of you who are fans of Robert Tonner's dolls,there will still be new dolls.
  So there you have it. You can see the Phyn and Areo site HERE. For those of you keeping track of old collections,the Wilde Imaginations archive has moved to Phyn and Areo too,although it doesn't seem to have anything there right now.
  Don't forget to check out today's Doll-A-Day too.

Flash Sales at A Girl For All Time and Lottie Dolls,and Contest at Tonner Dolls

  Just a quick post. This seems to be flash sale weekend. Several doll sites are having flash sales. One is A Girl For All Time. (You may have seen my A Girl For All Time Clementine doll HERE.) You can check out their flash sale HERE. It includes a free Ginsberg Cat when you buy Sam's bundle,which is also on sale. Put Ginsberg and Sam's bundle in your cart and use the code FREECAT at checkout.

 The bundle is as follows:

Sam, Your 1960s Girl™

Sam's Parisienne Playsuit with Handbag

Sam's GoGo Boots

Sam's New York Cape and Skirt

Sam's Orange Jumper and White Tights

   The A Girl For All Time flash sale ends at midnight on Septemeber 19th,2018.

   I recently talked about Lottie dolls' really cool playsets,especially the treehouse.

Several people commented on how much they loved the treehouse,as do I. Well now's the time to jump on that treehouse playset,because not only is it on sale,but you get a free Birthday Girl Lottie doll when you buy it. You can get the treehouse cheaper elsewhere,but the addition of the free doll makes up for the price difference, plus some.

  That would make a great birthday gift.Too bad Ivy is 'too old for dolls' now! Her birthday is coming up. Anyway,you can see that offer HERE. The offer ends on Sunday,September 16th,2018.

Tonner is giving away a redressed and retressed Scarlett O'Hara doll to one lucky buyer who purchases Scarlett in her Barbecue dress before midnight on September 17th,2018.

Barbecue Scarlett is a limited edition of 300,and is on sale for $175. Your purchase enters you to win your choice of one of these redone Scarletts:

  The red one is my favourite. You can find out all the details HERE.
  Ken  and I are off on a short excursion in a day or so to celebrate our 29th anniversary See you when I get back.